The Indian government has come out with a new e-commerce policy, which is ostensibly for creating new jobs, but is actually to control data of Indian citizens. "The aim of this draft policy is national interest and that our citizens' data is ours. Data is business, everything else is ancillary," said a senior official. "Under the new regime, businesses collecting or processing sensitive data in India which is stored abroad will not be allowed to share it with other businesses outside the country, third parties and foreign governments without prior permission, the draft policy read." In December the government permitted 10 central agencies, including Delhi Police, to "intercept, monitor and decrypt 'any information' generated, transmitted, received or stored in 'any computer'", which gives politicians and civil servants total control over us. Any refusal to cooperate will result in a fine and jail for 7 years. Experts denounced this order because it creates a total surveillance system without any safeguards or accountability. Government officials were surprised at the outrage the order generated because "these agencies already had these powers under the Information Technology Act and the rules framed under the act, according to current and former government officials". The Information Technology Act was passed in 2000 by the previous BJP led government under Prime Minister AB Vajpayee but the infamous sections 66A and 69 were passed without any debate by the Lok Sabha in 2008 when the Congress led government was in power. Section 66A, which penalized any 'offensive message', was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. Shows that politicians of all parties cooperate to gain total control over citizens. "Before the order was issued, there was no bar on any agency, which could approach the competent authority, Union home secretary in their case, seeking interception or monitoring of computer traffic, the officials added." We should be so grateful. This government forced every citizen to obtain a unique identity number, based on prints of all 10 fingers, photographs and iris scans, which is being massively misused, according former Supreme Court Justice PB Sawant. The same coterie of politicians now seeks to set up a DNA databank which will leave every citizen completely naked to surveillance. There is only one thing that can protect citizens by preventing data centers in India. And that is electricity. Servers generate huge amounts of heat requiring 24/7 air-conditioning. Storage servers in the US use 70 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, wrote C Helman. By 2025, "152,000 new devices will be jumping, directly or indirectly, onto the internet every minute". India produces 1,423 terrawatt hours of electricity every year but supplies are still very erratic in villages, Microsoft is locating servers on the seabed near coastal towns. Spending so much on surveillance will not leave any money for handouts. Which means losing elections. We can only pray.
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